1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to an accumulator, and is more particularly concerned with an improved construction of an accumulator which comprises a vessel body having an inner space, and a deformable or displaceable partition member disposed in the inner space so as to divide the inner space into a gas chamber charged with a suitable pressurized gas, and a fluid chamber which communicates with the piping system of a hydraulic circuit.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
There is known an accumulator connectable to the piping system of a hydraulic circuit, for reducing or minimizing problematic vibrations and noises in the hydraulic circuit which are caused by variations of the fluid pressure in the piping system due to a periodic change of the delivery pressure of a pump employed in the hydraulic circuit, in other words, which are caused by pressure pulsation or pulsating flow of the oil in the piping system.
Such an accumulator includes a vessel body having an inner space and a deformable partition member disposed in the inner space so as to fluid-tightly divide the inner space into two sections, i.e., a gas chamber and a fluid chamber. The gas chamber is filled with a nitrogen gas or other suitable gaseous component which is pressurized to a suitable pressure. The fluid chamber communicates with the piping system. That is, in response to the variations of the fluid pressure in the piping system, the oil as the working fluid is discharged from the piping system into the fluid chamber, or alternatively the oil in the fluid chamber is discharged or delivered into the piping system, whereby the variations of the fluid pressure are minimized. The thus constructed accumulator, when connected to the piping system of the hydraulic circuit, is effective to absorb or accommodate the pulsating flow of the fluid in the piping system, and thereby reduce or alleviate the vibrations and noises caused by the pulsating flow.
However, the hydraulic circuit to which this conventional accumulator is connected has a difficulty when it is required to efficiently provide a sufficiently large hydraulic force, particularly where it is required to generate or establish such a large hydraulic force in a relatively short time.
For permitting rapid generation of the large force in the hydraulic circuit, the fluid pressure in the piping system is required to be rapidly increased. However, the presence of the conventional accumulator in the hydraulic circuit undesirably impedes the required rapid increase in the fluid pressure. That is, upon initiation of the increase in the fluid pressure in the piping system, the oil in the piping system is forced into the fluid chamber of the accumulator, and the increase of the fluid pressure in the piping system is accordingly offset by an amount equivalent to the amount of oil flow into the fluid chamber. As a consequence, the hydraulic circuit with the conventional accumulator installed therein cannot provide the required amount of hydraulic force.